System and method for sensitizing the activation criteria of a rollover control system

ABSTRACT

A method for sensitizing the roll signal for a rollover control system ( 18 ) is provided. A sensitizing method for controlling a vehicle includes when the relative roll angle reaches a threshold, initiating a wheel departure angle determination, boosting control effort and controlling a safety system ( 38 ) in response to the computed roll angles.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention claims priority to U.S. provisional applicationsSer. No. 60/401,464 and 60/401,416, filed Aug. 5, 2002, the disclosuresof which are incorporated by reference herein. The present applicationis also related to U.S. application Ser. No. 10/619, 007 now U.S. Pat.No. 6,961,648 entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DESENSITIZING THEACTIVATION CRITERIA OF A ROLLOVER CONTROL SYSTEM”, filed simultaneouslyherewith.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a control apparatus forcontrolling a system of an automotive vehicle in response to senseddynamic behavior, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus forsensitizing the activation criteria based on vehicle operatingconditions.

BACKGROUND

Dynamic control systems for automotive vehicles have recently begun tobe offered on various products. Dynamic control systems typicallycontrol the yaw of the vehicle by controlling the braking effort at thevarious wheels of the vehicle. Yaw control systems typically compare thedesired direction of the vehicle based upon the steering wheel angle andthe direction of travel. By regulating the amount of braking at eachcorner of the vehicle, the desired direction of travel may bemaintained. Typically, the dynamic control systems do not addressrollover (wheels lifting) of the vehicle. For high profile vehicles inparticular, it would be desirable to control the rollover characteristicof the vehicle to maintain the vehicle position with respect to theroad. That is, it is desirable to maintain contact of each of the fourtires of the vehicle on the road.

In vehicle rollover control, it is desired to alter the vehicle attitudesuch that its motion along the roll direction is prevented fromachieving a predetermined limit (rollover limit) with the aid of theactuation from the available active systems such as controllable brakesystem, steering system and suspension system. Although the vehicleattitude is well defined, direct measurement is usually impossible.

During a potential vehicular rollover event, wheels on one side of thevehicle start lifting, and the roll center of the vehicle shifts to thecontact patch of the remaining tires. This shifted roll center increasesthe roll moment of inertia of the vehicle, and hence reduces the rollacceleration of the vehicle. However, the roll attitude could stillincrease rapidly. The corresponding roll motion when the vehicle startsside lifting deviates from the roll motion during normal drivingconditions.

When the wheels start to lift from the pavement, it is desirable toconfirm this condition. This allows the system to make an accuratedetermination as to the appropriate correction. If wheels are on theground, or recontact the ground after a lift condition, this alsoassists with accurate control.

Some systems use position sensors to measure the relative distancebetween the vehicle body and the vehicle suspension. One drawback tosuch systems is that the distance from the body to the road must beinferred. This also increases the number of sensors on the vehicle.Other techniques use sensor signals to indirectly detect wheel liftingqualitatively.

One example of a wheel lifting determination can be found in Ford patentU.S. Pat. No. 6,356,188 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/608,909,now U.S. Pat. No. 7,109,856 both of which are incorporated by referenceherein. The system applies a change in torque to the wheels to determinewheel lift. The output from such a wheel lifting determination unit canbe used qualitatively. This method is an active determination since thebasis of the system relies on changing the torque of the wheels by theapplication of brakes or the like. In some situations it may bedesirable to determine wheel lift without changing the torque of awheel.

Due to the inevitable dead spots due to the vehicle configuration, wheellift detection methods may not be able to identify all the conditionswhere four wheels are absolutely grounded in a timely and accuratefashion. For example, if the torques applied to the wheels have errors,if the vehicle reference computation has errors or there is not enoughexcitation in the torque provided, the wheel lift detection may provideerroneous information or no information about the roll trending of thevehicle. Wheel lift information may also be safe-guarded by informationregarding the vehicle roll angle information from the various sensors.

In certain driving conditions where the vehicle is moving with all fourwheels contacting ground and the wheel lift detection does not detectthe grounding condition, the roll information derived from the varioussensors may be the sole information for identify vehicle roll trending.If in such driving cases, the vehicle experiences very large lateralacceleration and large roll rate, the grounded conditions might bereplaced by erroneous lifting conditions. That is, those signals maypredict that the vehicle is in a divergent roll event but the actualvehicle is not in a rolling event at all. Such cases include when thevehicle is driven on a mountain road, off-road or banked road, tirecompression or an impact may cause a large normal load. The increasednormal load causes a force component to be added to the lateralacceleration sensor output. Hence, a larger than 1 g lateralacceleration is obtained but the actual lateral acceleration of thevehicle projected along the road surface might be in 0.6 g range. Anoff-road driving condition may also be an off-camber driving condition.When a low speed vehicle is driven on an off-camber road with some hardtire compression or impact, the control system may be fooled to activateun-necessarily.

In order to reduce false activations, it would therefore be desirable toprovide a rollover detection system that sensitizes and desensitizes theroll control determination.

SUMMARY

The present invention sensitizes and desensitizes the roll decisionbased upon various conditions to make the roll decision more accurate.

In one embodiment, a method of controlling an automotive vehiclecomprises determining a relative roll angle, when the relative rollangle reaches a threshold, initiating a wheel departure angledetermination, and controlling a safety system in response to the wheeldeparture angle.

In another embodiment, a method of controlling an automotive vehiclecomprises determining a relative roll angle, determining when thevehicle is in a transitional maneuver, setting a roll signal for controlto the relative roll angle.

One advantage of the invention is that some or all of the ways in whichto sensitize and desensitize may be used alone or simultaneously toimprove a safety system such as a rollover control system.

Other advantages and features of the present invention will becomeapparent when viewed in light of the detailed description of thepreferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the attacheddrawings and appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a vehicle with variable vectors andcoordinator frames.

FIG. 2 is an end view of an automotive vehicle on a bank withdefinitions of various angles including global roll angle, relative rollangle, wheel departure angle (WDA), road bank angle and body-to-roadangle.

FIG. 3A is an end view of an on-camber divergent vehicle tendency.

FIG. 3B is an end view of an automotive vehicle in an off-camberdivergent condition.

FIG. 3C is an end view of a vehicle in an on-camber convergentcondition.

FIG. 3D is an end view of a vehicle in an off-camber convergentcondition.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram of a stability control system.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram of the controller 26 used in the stabilitycontrol system depicted in FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is a block diagrammatic view of the unit 27 depicted in FIG. 4B,which is used for quantitatively and qualitatively determining rollovertrend of a vehicle.

FIG. 6 is more detailed view of the sensitizing and desensitizing blockof FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a plot of wheel departure angle versus time for normalconditions and for those of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is flow chart of the operation of one embodiment of sensitizingaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is flow chart of the operation of one embodiment of desensitizingaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating exiting a proportional peak holdstrategy.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating the timing of active wheel liftdetection.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following figures the same reference numerals will be used toidentify the same components. The present teachings may be used inconjunction with a yaw control system or a rollover control system foran automotive vehicle. However, the present teachings may also be usedwith a deployment device such as airbag or roll bar.

Referring to FIG. 1, an automotive vehicle 10 on a road surface 11 witha safety system is illustrated with the various forces and momentsthereon. Vehicle 10 has front right and front left tires 12 a and 12 band rear right tires and rear left tires 13 a and 13 b, respectively.The vehicle 10 may also have a number of different types of frontsteering systems 14 a and rear steering systems 14 b including, havingeach of the front and rear wheels configured with a respectivecontrollable actuator, the front and rear wheels having a conventionaltype system in which both of the front wheels are controlled togetherand both of the rear wheels are controlled together, a system havingconventional front steering and independently controllable rear steeringfor each of the wheels, or vice versa. Generally, the vehicle has aweight represented as Mg at the center of gravity of the vehicle, whereg=9.8 m/s² and M is the total mass of the vehicle.

As mentioned above, the system may also be used with active/semi-activesuspension systems, anti-roll bar or other safety devices deployed oractivated upon sensing predetermined dynamic conditions of the vehicle.

The sensing system 16 is part of a control system 18. The sensing system16 may use a standard yaw stability control sensor set (includinglateral acceleration sensor, yaw rate sensor, steering angle sensor andwheel speed sensor) together with a roll rate sensor and a longitudinalacceleration sensor. The various sensors will be further describedbelow. The wheel speed sensors 20 are mounted at each corner of thevehicle, and the rest of the sensors of sensing system 16 may be mounteddirectly on the center of gravity of the vehicle body, along thedirections x,y and z shown in FIG. 1. As those skilled in the art willrecognize, the frame from b₁, b₂ and b₃ is called a body frame 22, whoseorigin is located at the center of gravity of the car body, with the b₁corresponding to the x axis pointing forward, b₂ corresponding to the yaxis pointing off the driving side (to the left), and the b₃corresponding to the z axis pointing upward. The angular rates of thecar body are denoted about their respective axes as ω_(x) for the rollrate, ω_(y) for the pitch rate and ω_(z) for the yaw rate. Thecalculations set forth herein may take place in an inertial frame 24that may be derived from the body frame 22 as described below.

The angular rate sensors and the acceleration sensors are mounted on thevehicle car body along the body frame directions b₁, b₂ and b₃, whichare the x-y-z axes of the vehicle's sprung mass.

The longitudinal acceleration sensor 36 is mounted on the car bodylocated at the center of gravity, with its sensing direction alongb₁-axis, whose output is denoted as a_(x). The lateral accelerationsensor 32 is mounted on the car body located at the center of gravity,with its sensing direction along b₂-axis, whose output is denoted asa_(y).

The other frame used in the following discussion includes the roadframe, as depicted in FIG. 1. The road frame system r₁r₂r₃ is fixed onthe driven road surface, where the r₃ axis is along the average roadnormal direction computed from the normal directions of thefour-tire/road contact patches.

In the following discussion, the Euler angles of the body frame b₁b₂ b₃with respect to the road frame r₁r₂r₃ are denoted as θ_(xr), θ_(yr) andθ_(zr), which are also called the relative Euler angles.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the relationship of the various angles of thevehicle 10 relative to the road surface 11 is illustrated. One angle isa wheel departure angle θ_(wda), which is the angle from the axle or thewheel axis to the road surface 11. Also shown is a reference road bankangle θ_(bank), which is shown relative to the vehicle 10 on a roadsurface. The vehicle 10 has a vehicle body 10 a and vehicle suspension10 b. The relative roll angle θ_(xr) is the angle between the wheel axleand the body 10 a. The global roll angle θ_(x) is the angle between thehorizontal plane (e.g., at sea level) and the vehicle body 10 a.

Referring now to FIG. 3A, vehicle 10 is illustrated in an on-camberdivergent state. The on-camber divergent state refers to the vehiclehaving a greater than zero wheel departure angle, a greater than zerorelative roll angle, and a moment represented by arrow 25 tending toincrease the relative roll angle and the wheel departure angle. In thisexample, the bank angle is less than zero.

In FIG. 3B, when the bank angle is greater than zero, the wheeldeparture angle is greater than zero, the relative roll angle is greaterthan zero and the moment is also to the right or increasing the relativeroll angle and the wheel departure angle, the vehicle is in anoff-camber divergent state.

Referring now to FIG. 3C, a bank angle of less than zero, a wheeldeparture angle greater than zero, and a relative roll angle greaterthan zero is shown with a roll moment 25 acting to the left. Thus, thevehicle is in an on-camber convergent state. That is, the convergentstate refers to the vehicle tending towards not overturning.

Referring now to FIG. 3D, when the bank angle is greater than 0, thewheel departure angle is greater than zero, and the relative roll angleis greater than zero and the roll moment is tending to the left, thevehicle is in an off-camber convergent state. That is, the vehicle istending toward not rolling over.

Referring now to FIG. 4A, one embodiment of a roll stability controlsystem 18 is illustrated in further detail having a controller 26 usedfor receiving information from a number of sensors which may include ayaw rate sensor 28, a speed sensor 20, a lateral acceleration sensor 32,a roll rate sensor 34, a steering angle sensor (hand wheel position) 35,a longitudinal acceleration sensor 36, and steering angle positionsensor 37.

In one embodiment, the sensors are located at the center of gravity ofthe vehicle. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the sensorsmay also be located off the center of gravity and translatedequivalently thereto.

Lateral acceleration, roll orientation and speed may be obtained using aglobal positioning system (GPS). Based upon inputs from the sensors,controller 26 may control a safety device 38. Depending on the desiredsensitivity of the system and various other factors, not all the sensors20, 28, 32, 34, 35, 36, and 37, or various combinations of the sensors,may be used in a commercial embodiment. Safety device 38 may control anairbag 40, an active braking system 41, an active front steering system42, an active rear steering system 43, an active suspension system 44,and an active anti-roll bar system 45, or combinations thereof. Each ofthe systems 40-45 may have their own controllers for activating eachone. As mentioned above, the safety system 38 may be at least the activebraking system 41.

Roll rate sensor 34 may sense the roll condition of the vehicle based onsensing the height of one or more points on the vehicle relative to theroad surface. Sensors that may be used to achieve this include aradar-based proximity sensor, a laser-based proximity sensor and asonar-based proximity sensor.

Roll rate sensor 34 may also sense the roll condition based on sensingthe linear or rotational relative displacement or displacement velocityof one or more of the suspension chassis components which may include alinear height or travel sensor, a rotary height or travel sensor, awheel speed sensor used to look for a change in velocity, a steeringwheel position sensor, a steering wheel velocity sensor and a driverheading command input from an electronic component that may includesteer by wire using a hand wheel or joy stick.

The roll condition may also be sensed by sensing the force or torqueassociated with the loading condition of one or more suspension orchassis components including a pressure transducer in active airsuspension, a shock absorber sensor such as a load cell, a strain gauge,the steering system absolute or relative motor load, the steering systempressure of the hydraulic lines, a tire lateral force sensor or sensors,a longitudinal tire force sensor, a vertical tire force sensor or a tiresidewall torsion sensor.

The roll condition of the vehicle may also be established by one or moreof the following translational or rotational positions, velocities oraccelerations of the vehicle including a roll gyro, the roll rate sensor34, the yaw rate sensor 28, the lateral acceleration sensor 32, avertical acceleration sensor, a vehicle longitudinal accelerationsensor, lateral or vertical speed sensor including a wheel-based speedsensor, a radar-based speed sensor, a sonar-based speed sensor, alaser-based speed sensor or an optical-based speed sensor.

Based on the inputs from sensors 20, 28, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, controller26 determines a roll condition and controls any one or more of thesafety devices 40-45.

Speed sensor 20 may be one of a variety of speed sensors known to thoseskilled in the art. For example, a suitable speed sensor 20 may includea sensor at every wheel that is averaged by controller 26. Thecontroller 26 translates the wheel speeds into the speed of the vehicle.Yaw rate, steering angle, wheel speed and possibly a slip angle estimateat each wheel may be translated back to the speed of the vehicle at thecenter of gravity. Various other algorithms are known to those skilledin the art. For example, if speed is determined while speeding up orbraking around a corner, the lowest or highest wheel speed may not beused because of its error. Also, a transmission sensor may be used todetermine vehicle speed.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the sensor fusion unit 27A is illustrated infurther detail. The sensor fusion unit 27A receives the various sensorsignals,20,28,32,34, 35,36,37 and integrates all the sensor signals withthe calculated signals to generate signals suitable for roll stabilitycontrol algorithms. From the various sensor signals wheel lift detectionmay be determined by the wheel lift detector 50. Wheel lift detector 50includes both active wheel lift detection and passive wheel liftdetection, and wheel grounding condition detection. Wheel lift detectoris described in U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/400,375 filedAug. 1, 2002, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/608,909 now Pat.No. 7,109,856 which are incorporated by reference herein. The modulesdescribed below may be implemented in hardware or software in a generalpurpose computer (microprocessor). From the wheel lift detection module50, a determination of whether each wheel is absolutely grounded,possibly grounded, possibly lifted, or absolutely lifted may bedetermined. Transition detection module 52 is used to detect whether thevehicle is experiencing aggressive maneuver due to sudden steering wheelinputs from the driver. The sensors may also be used to determine arelative roll angle in relative roll angle module 54. Relative rollangle may be determined in many ways. One way is to use the rollacceleration module 58 in conjunction with the lateral accelerationsensor. As described above, the relative roll angle may be determinedfrom the roll conditions described above.

The various sensor signals may also be used to determine a relativepitch angle in relative pitch angle module 56 and a roll acceleration inroll acceleration module 58. The outputs of the wheel lift detectionmodule 50, the transition detection module 52, and the relative rollangle module 54 are used to determine a wheel departure angle in wheeldeparture angle module 60. Various sensor signals and the relative pitchangle in relative pitch angle module 56 are used to determine a relativevelocity total in module 62. The road reference bank angle block 64determines the bank angle. The relative pitch angle, the rollacceleration, and various other sensor signals as described below areused to determine the road reference bank angle. Other inputs mayinclude a roll stability control event (RSC) and/or the presence of arecent yaw stability control event, and the wheel lifting and/orgrounding flags.

The global roll angle of the vehicle is determined in global roll anglemodule 66. The relative roll angle, the wheel departure angle, and theroll velocity total blocks are all inputs to the global roll angle totalmodule 66. The global roll angle total block determines the global rollangle θ_(x). An output module 68 receives the global roll angle totalmodule 66 and the road reference bank angle from the road reference bankangle module 64. A roll signal for control is developed in roll signalmodule 70. The roll signal for control is illustrated as arrow 72. Asensitizing and desensitizing module 74 may also be included in theoutput module 68 to adjust the roll signal for control.

In the reference road bank angle module 64, the reference bank angleestimate is calculated. The objective of the reference bank estimate isto track a robust but rough indication of the road bank angleexperienced during driving in both stable and highly dynamic situations,and which is in favor for roll stability control. That is, thisreference bank angle is adjusted based on the vehicle driving conditionand the vehicle roll condition. Most importantly, when compared to theglobal roll estimate, it is intended to capture the occurrence andphysical magnitude of a divergent roll condition (two wheel lift) shouldit occur. This signal is intended to be used as a comparator against theglobal roll estimate for calculating the error signal, which is fed backto roll stability controller 26.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the operation of the sensitizing/desensitizingmodule 74 is described in further detail. In this module, the neededcontrol effort used in the roll stability control RSC system issensitized by deliberately increasing certain thresholds, boostingcertain signals and holding certain variables in order to cope withscenarios where the vehicle is in divergent roll trend; the controleffort used in RSC is desensitized by deliberately decreasing certainthresholds, exiting holding mode and inserting hysteresis in certainvariables in order to cope with the scenarios where the vehicle is notin divergent roll trend but the vehicle sensors cannot distinguish suchno-divergent roll trend with the divergent or unstable dynamics. Insummary, the sensitization is used to boost the control effort in theside of the vehicle needed, and desensitization is used to detune thecontrol effort in the un-needed side so as to reduce false activationsin non-rollover events.

The module has various external inputs that include a relative rollangle θ_(xr) input 80; a roll signal for control θ_(rsfc) input 82; aroll rate ω_(x) 84; a wheel departure angle θ_(wda) input 86, a firsttransitional flag input 88 for left to right transition denoted as T(0)and a second transitional flag 90 denoted as T(1) for right to lefttransition. The transitional flags are set as the vehicle change from aright to left turn and a left to right turn. The generation of thetransitional flags is described in provisional application 60/401,416which is incorporated by reference herein. Other inputs include a finalwheel lift status flags input 92 that is denoted by S_(wld)(i). Thefinal wheel lift status flag is set so:

If the ith wheel is absolutely grounded, thenS_(wld)(i)=ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED

-   -   If the ith wheel is in the edge of grounding,        S_(wld)(i)=POSSIBLY_GROUNDED    -   If the ith wheel is absolutely lifted, then |        S_(wld)(i)=ABSOLUTELY_LIFTED    -   If the ith wheel is in the edge of lifting |        S_(wld)(i)=POSSIBLY_LIFTED    -   If the ith wheel's status cannot be firmly identified,        S_(wld)(i)=NO_INDICATION

Other inputs include a reference bank angle input 94 denoted asθ_(refbank) and a global roll angle input 96 θ_(x)

The outputs of the module 74 include a wheel departure angle output 98denoted by θ_(wda), a roll signal for control output 100 denoted byθ_(rsfc), a proper-peak-hold flag: output 102 denoted by F_(PPH), areference bank angle output 104 denoted θ_(refbank) and a pre-liftsensing flag output 106 denoted by F_(PLS).

PREDEFINED CALIBRATABLE PARAMETER DEFINITIONS

The module 74 also includes various parameters and thresholds that aredefined as follows:

-   -   Θ_(sensitize): the threshold for the relative roll angle used        for sensitizing wheel departure angle during transitional        maneuvers. Default value used in the present example=45% of roll        gradient.    -   α: percentage of relative roll angle boosted for roll signal for        control during double wheel lift events.    -   Θ_(wheel-normal-condition): the threshold for the relative roll        angle for starting the computation of the wheel departure angle        during normal driving condition. Default value used in the        present example=75% of the roll gradient.    -   Θ_(non-transition): the threshold for the relative roll angle        used in starting to adjust the reference bank during        non-transitional maneuvers. Default value used in the present        example=80% of roll gradient.    -   ΔΘ: the threshold for wheel departure angle drop during to        sequential loops used for exiting proportional peak hold mode in        PID controller. Default value used in the present example=4        degree.    -   Ω_(PPH): threshold for the roll angular rate in order to enter        proportional peak hold mode. Default value=used in the present        example 16 degree per second.    -   Θ_(PLS): the threshold for the wheel departure angle in order to        start the pre-lift sensing. Default value used in the present        example=1 degree.    -   T: the threshold for the drive torque at a wheel to start the        pre-lift sensing.

Sensitization

Referring now to FIG. 7, the starting point of computing the wheeldeparture angle is assumed to be at the time instant where one of thetires is at the edge of losing its normal load, or at the edge of beinglifted. The exact time, however, is not typically detectable.Considering all the uncertainties in a vehicle, the approximated timingmay be identified based on the wheel lift detection and the vehicle rollinformation. As shown in FIG. 7, the time instant where the tire isabout to lift is illustrated as t₀, then before t₀ at time t₀₁, thewheel departure angle must have negative value. The wheel departureangle is reset to zero when the computation start. Thus if thecomputation is started at a time instant earlier than t₀, the negativewheel departure angle due to tire compression (usually around 1 degree)will be added to the computed wheel departure angle to effectively boostthe wheel departure angle. This sensitizes the wheel departure angle. Ifthe start timing for computing wheel departure angle is later than t₀ attime t₀₂, the magnitude of the calculated wheel departure angle will beless than the magnitude of the actual value, hence desensitizes thewheel departure angle.

Referring now to FIG. 8, if the vehicle is near wheel lifting in step120, in step 122 the transitional flags are monitored. The vehicle leftto right transitional or right to left transitional flags are set to beactive due to a dynamic transitional maneuver of the vehicle. In such acase, the vehicle may have a very large roll rate and hence a high rolltrend. In this case any late computation of the wheel departure willdesensitize the control effort which will have adverse control effect.Hence in this case the wheel departure angle computation is sensitizedsuch that a needed control effort can be boosted.

if( (T(0) = 1 & & θ_(xr) ≧ Θ_(sensitize))   ∥ (T(1) == 1 & & θ_(xr) ≦−Θ_(sensitize)) {   Compute wheel departure angle; } else if the normalconditions are met {   Exit computing wheel departure angle; }

The relative roll angle is determined in step 124. Notice that if thenormal condition for computing wheel departure starts at a relative rollmagnitude Θ_(normal), then the threshold Θ_(sensitize) for sensitizingwheel departure angle during transitional maneuver could be as small as50% of Θ_(normal). In step 126 the transitional flags are monitored andthe relative roll angle θ_(xr) exceeds or is equal to the sensitizingthreshold and the left to right transition flag is set or the right toleft transition flag is set and the relative roll angle θ_(xr) is lessthan or equal to a negative Θ_(sensitize) threshold. The boosted wheeldeparture angle is obtained by starting the calculation earlier than ata nominal time t₀ as described above in step 128. The boosted wheeldeparture angle will add certain amount of roll angle to the final rollsignal for control θ_(rsfc), hence help increase certain amount ofcontrol effort.

If the wheel lift detection methods identify that two wheels at theinside of a turn are both lifted in step 130, then the vehicle is in aprogressive rollover event. In this case significant control effort isrequired in order to fully control the vehicle body such that rollovercan be prevented. One sensitizing method is to further boost the rollsignal for control as in step 132 as set forth in the following:

if((S_(wld)(0) == 1 & & S_(wld)(2) == 1 & &θ_(xr) > 0)   ∥ (S_(wld)(1)== 1 & & S_(wld)(3) == 1 & &θ_(xr) ≦ 0)) {   θ_(rsfc) = θ_(rsfc) + α% *θ_(xr); }where α is the percentage of the desired boost. The default value inthis example is 10.

In step 134 whether the vehicle is bouncing is determined. When thevehicle has very large roll angle together with a large magnitude of theroll rate during last second, the vehicle will be in a potentialbouncing mode. In this case a proportional peak hold of the brakepressure (roll control effort) is conducted. A proportional control termis calculated in:

if (vehicle is in bouncing mode) {   Proportianl_control_term =K_(p)θ_(rsfc−peak) } else {   Proportianl_control_term = K_(p)θ_(rsfc) }where θ_(rsfc-peak) is the peak value of the roll signal for controlduring a specific period of time in step 136.

Desensitization

Referring now to FIG. 9, as mentioned above it may also be desirable todesensitize the system in certain situations. For example, during atransitional maneuver, the roll signal for control θ_(rsfc) will bereduced to relative roll angle θ_(xr) if the wheel lift detectionalgorithms identify that the two wheel at the inside of a turn areabsolutely grounded. In this case, the vehicle is not in any rolldivergence and the roll angle between the vehicle body and the roadsurface is exactly the relative roll angle θ_(xr). Since usually θ_(xr)alone will not be able to initiate PID control, hence resetting θ_(rsfc)to θ_(xr) will exit RSC control. This is set forth in step 140 by firstdetermining if the vehicle is in a transitional maneuver. If the insidewheels are absolutely grounded in step 142 (and there is some roll anglein the right direction) then the roll signal for control is set to therelative roll angle in step 144.

if( (T(0) == 1 & &S_(wld)(1) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED & &S_(wld)(3) ==ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED & &θ_(xr) ≦ 0) (T(1) == 1 & &S_(wld)(0) ==ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED & &S_(wld)(2) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED & &θ_(xr) > 0)) {  θ_(rsfc) = θ_(xr) +θ_(wda) = θ_(xr); }

During non-transitional maneuver, the roll signal for control θ_(rsfc)will be reduced to relative roll angle θ_(xr) if the wheel liftdetection algorithms identify that one of the two inside wheels at aturn is absolutely grounded. In this case, the vehicle is not in anyroll divergence and the roll angle between the vehicle body and the roadsurface is exactly the relative roll angle θ_(xr). Since usually θ_(xr)alone will not be able to initiate PID control, hence resetting θ_(rsfc)to θ_(xr) will exit RSC control. This is carried out in step 140 whenthere is no transitional maneuver. In step 146 whether one of two insidewheels is grounded is determined. If one of the two inside wheels aregrounded, step 144 is again executed in which the roll signal forcontrol is set to the relative roll angle. This is set forth in thefollowing code.

if( (T(0) == 0 & &(S_(wld)(1) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED ∥ S_(wld)(3) ==ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED) & &θ_(xr) ≦ 0) (T(1) == 0 & &(S_(wld)(0) ==ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED ∥ S_(wld)(2) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED) & &θ_(xr) > 0)) {  θ_(rsfc) = θ_(xr) + θ_(wda) = θ_(xr); }

In non-transitional maneuver, the reference bank is updated when themagnitude of the relative roll angle is less than a Θ_(non-transition)threshold, which is larger than the Θ_(wda-normal-condition) thresholdin step 148. Hence there is a gap of the relative roll angle which isused to provide certain hysteresis in reference bank angle computation.If the magnitude of the relative roll angle is under theΘ_(non-transition) threshold but greater than Θ_(wda-normal-condition),even wheel departure angle is already starting to be computed, thereference bank angle will wait until the relative roll angle exceedsΘ_(non-transition) threshold to be adjusted, and hence the roll signalfor control to be adjusted. That is, the reference road bank θ_(ref) isset to the maximum of the global roll angle θ_(x)−θ_(xss) or thepreviously determined reference bank angle. This is set forth in thefollowing code:

if (( θ_(xr) < −Θ_(non-transition) & & ( S_(wld)(1) !=ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED ∥ S_(wld)(3) != ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED ) )  ∥( θ_(xr) ≧Θ_(non-transition) & & ( S_(wld)(0) != ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED ∥ S_(wld)(2)!= ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED ) ) {  θ_(ref−bank) = max(θ_(x) −θ_(xss),θ_(ref−bank)); }where θ_(xss)=θ_(x)−θ_(xr)−θ_(wda).

Referring now to FIG. 10, in step 162 if the incremental correction forthe wheel departure angle for two sequential loops exceeds certainmagnitude ΔΘ (default value=4 degree), the RSC will exit proportionalpeak brake pressure holding by resetting the flag F_(PPH) to zero instep 164. In step 162 the previous wheel departure angle is subtractedfrom a current wheel departure angle. In this case, the self adjustingfeature of the wheel departure angle computation implies that thevehicle is not in a divergent roll motion, hence holding brake pressurewill cause the driver an un-easy feeling. Exiting enforced proportionalpeak hold pressure will allow the roll information of the vehicle to setthe control effort to appropriate level.

if (|θ_(wda)(k)−θ_(wda)(k−1)| > ΔΘ) {   F_(PPH)=0; }where θ_(wda)(k) denotes the current value of the wheel departure angleand θ_(wda)(k−1) denotes the past value of the wheel departure angle.

In step 166, if the vehicle roll rate does not exceed a thresholdΩ_(PPH) (16 degree/sec in the present example) within last 1 second, thevehicle is identified as not in the bouncing mode. Hence proportionalpeak hold will be ended in step 164. In this case, there is no need tohold brake pressure. Exiting enforced proportional peak hold pressurewill allow the roll information of the vehicle to set the control effortto appropriate level.

if (|ω_(x)| < Ω_(PPH) during last 1 second) {   F_(PPH)=0; }

Referring now to FIG. 11, it may be desirable to start active wheel liftdetection early. Although the passive wheel lift detection is performedall the time, the active wheel lift detection is conditionallyperformed. For example, only if the RSC enters PID control mode theactive wheel lift detection is activated. Since the PID control isrelated to roll trend conditioned by the wheel lifting information andthere is a delay between the beginning of the active detection and thetime when the detection resets the flag, there may be cases where a longlasting un-necessary activation from the PID controller is performed.The active wheel lift detection may thus be performed before the PIDcontroller is activated. The delay due to the active wheel liftdetection consequently may be removed. This implies the need for anearlier active wheel lift detection, which may be called pre-liftsensing. That is before entering the PID control mode and thetransitional control mode, the active wheel lift detection will start toproceed under certain conditions. One of the conditions is dependent onthe wheel departure angle. If the wheel departure angle is greater thancertain threshold and the driving torque at the axle is below certainthreshold in step 170, a prelifting flag is set in step 172, the activewheel lift detection will request engine torque reduction or provide apressure command to the wheel in step 174. In this manner, un-necessaryfalse activations can be avoided or the false activation can be shortedin duration. The logic can be expressed as in the following:

if (|θ_(wda)| > Θ_(PLS) & & τ_(drive)≦T) {   F_(PLS)=1; }where F_(PLS) is the flag for pre-lift sensing, i.e, F_(PLS)=1 willinitiate pre-lift sensing, and τ_(drive) is the drive torque at theinterested wheel.

As is described above, various ways of sensitizing or desensitizing rollcontrol are described. Depending on the various system requirements one,some or all of the ways may be implemented in a commercial embodiment.

While the invention has been described in connection with one or moreembodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limitedto those embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended tocover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents, as may beincluded within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1. A method of operating a control system for an automotive vehiclecomprising: determining a relative roll angle; when the relative rollangle reaches a threshold, initiating a wheel departure angledetermination; and controlling a safety system in response to the wheeldeparture angle.
 2. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprisingdetermining the vehicle is in a transition; and when the relative rollangle reaches a threshold and the vehicle is in the transition,initiating a determination of a wheel departure angle.
 3. A method asrecited in claim 1 wherein the transition is a right to left transition.4. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the transition is a left toright transition.
 5. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step ofinitiating is performed when the relative roll angle increases to thethreshold.
 6. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising agenerating a roll signal for control in response to the wheel departureangle and wherein controlling a safety system comprises controlling asafety system in response to the roll signal for control.
 7. A method asrecited in claim 1 wherein controlling a safety system comprisescontrolling a rollover control system to counteract a vehicle rollover.8. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising detecting a doublewheel lift; and boosting the roll signal for control in response to thedouble wheel lift.
 9. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprisingapplying a brake pressure to counteract rollover, determining thevehicle may be bouncing, in response to bouncing holding the brakepressure.
 10. A method of operating a control system for an automotivevehicle comprising: determining the vehicle is in a transition;determining a relative roll angle; when the relative roll angle reachesa threshold and the vehicle is in a transition, initiating a wheeldeparture angle determination; determining a roll signal for control inresponse to the wheel departure angle; and controlling a safety systemin response to the roll signal for control.
 11. A method as recited inclaim 10 further comprising detecting a double wheel lift; and boostingthe roll signal for control in response to the double wheel lift.
 12. Amethod as recited in claim 10 further comprising applying a brakepressure to counteract rollover, determining the vehicle may bebouncing, in response to bouncing holding the brake pressure.
 13. Amethod of controlling a vehicle comprising: determining a roll signalfor control; determining a relative roll angle; determining a doublewheel lift; and in response to determining double wheel lift and therelative roll angle, increasing the roll signal for control to a boostedroll signal for control.
 14. A method as recited in claim 13 furthercomprising performing the step of increasing the roll for control whenthe left side is lifted and the relative roll angle is positive.
 15. Amethod as recited in claim 13 further comprising performing increasingwhen the right side is lifted and the relative roll angle is negative.16. A method of controlling a vehicle comprising: applying a brakepressure to prevent rollover; determining the vehicle is bouncing; andholding the brake pressure when the vehicle is bouncing.
 17. A method asrecited in claim 10 wherein the transition is a right to left maneuver.18. A method as recited in claim 10 wherein the transition is a left toright maneuver.